Unless there is a last-minute waiver, merrymakers this New Year's will see their party cut short by a 2am curfew on alcohol sales in restaurants, night clubs and other places which offer entertainment.
The ban on alcohol sales after 2am was imposed by a road safety law passed last October in the wake of a rash of alcohol-related highway deaths, many involving young people, the popular www.winenews.it website recalled.
The law said the 2am deadline was valid for all days of the year and thus included not only New Year's but also Christmas and Carnival.
The ban during such key holidays has upset a number of sector operators including the owner of Rome's historic Piper and Gilda night clubs, Giancarlo Bornigia.
''This law only encourages people to try and get round it. The ban, in fact, only applies to alcohol sales in bars and night clubs which have liquor licenses and offer entertainment, while people continue to drink in private clubs,'' Bornigia observed.
''Then there are bars, street vendors and supermarkets which can sell alcohol whenever they want. If this ban continues we are going to have to close shop and fire people,'' he added.
Winenews also quoted the director of the national wine producers' association Federvini, Ottavio Cagiano, who recalled that ''this law was adopted on an emotional wave created by a series of tragic events. It was not thought through with sufficient attention and thus on certain key days, like New Year's, a deadline has been placed on celebrating''.
''What I see happening are people ordering two or more drinks before the bar closes so they don't find themselves with an empty glass.'' he added.
Other sector operators have complained that because of the ban reservations for New Year's Eve parties are down drastically and many Italians are going to neighboring countries like Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and France where there are no drinking curfews.
Aside from Italy, the only European country to impose a similar ban on alcohol sales is Norway, where sales of beer and wine are prohibited from 3am to 6am, while those of hard liquor are banned from 0.30 am to 1pm.
Other countries, like France and Latvia, have limits on alcohol being sold to be taken off the premises, while in Poland municipal authorities can impose limits on alcohol sales.
During its passage through parliament, the new road safety bill initially did not impose a curfew on nighttime alcohol sales. However, a ban for places offering entertainment was imposed in the House and then confirmed in a second reading by the Senate, which was in a rush to approve the measure before it expired.
Unfortunately, the new law has not produced its desired results with no decline in highway deaths over the past two months compared to the same period last year.
